Legislators Predict Final Deal on CBD Oil on Wednesday

(INDIANAPOLIS) - The last obstacle to legalizing cannabis oil is whether it should carry a label.

The House and most senators say CBD oil doesn't get you high and doesn't hurt you, while a parade of constituents have told them the oil has helped with seizures or pain. But Senate Republicans want a labeling requirement to ensure no one uses the oil as a back door to selling a chemical laced with extra THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

Indianapolis Republican Mike Young, the Senate bill's author, says if police and prosecutors tell him the requirement's not needed, he'll drop it. Democrats and House Republicans argue neither manufacturers nor buyers would go to the trouble of passing off a substance as cannabis oil. Bloomington's Matt Pierce, House Democrats' negotiator on the bill, argues it would be simpler and cheaper to find a marijuana dealer. He says people have been buying CBD oil out of state for years, and police have never once raised an alarm as they did with once-legal synthetic drugs like bath salts.

Seymour Representative Jim Lucas warns loading up the bill with regulations risks driving the product out of the state. He compares it to a 2016 law on manufacturing vaping liquids, which legislators had to roll back a year later.

The House and Senate are in agreement on a provision which would make it a felony to pass off a high-THC oil as the legal version, with stiffer penalties than most marijuana-dealing charges.

Young declares there will be a final deal on the bill, though he expects it won't come up for a vote until the session's final day on Wednesday.